


Fall of the Remingtons

by ThatScreamingBread



Category: The Sims (Video Games)
Genre: Accidental Death, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Child Death, Drowning, Electrocution, F/M, Fire, Ghosts, Grieving, Remington Family, Starvation, Survivor Guilt, The Sims 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24803521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatScreamingBread/pseuds/ThatScreamingBread
Summary: Hannah and Aiden Jones inherited the Remington Estate at 1 Remington Point from Hannah's deceased family in Riverview.  Each member died in a different way, though all deaths were accidental.  How did this ordinary family of five meet such an unlucky fate?
Relationships: Slight Jasper/Eileen Slight Hannah/Aiden





	1. Dead in the water

“You’re sure you’re alright watching Kirsten?” Jasper Remington asked his sister, Lydia. “Just say the word and I’ll call Cody and tell him to come home.”

Jasper’s wife, Eileen, had been told earlier in the week that she’d have Friday off. The couple decided to take advantage of her night off and booked a table at the bistro in town days in advance.

Lydia smiled and waved her brother off. “Let the boy go, he’s had a long week at school. Besides, you know how much he loves those handiness classes,” Lydia reminded him. “Kirsten and I always have so much fun when I watch her. She’s a good little girl, Jasper.”

“Oh, alright. Don’t be afraid—”

“—to call if I change my mind. We’ve been through this time and time again, Jasper. It’ll be fine,” Lydia playfully knocked Jasper on the head with her fist. “You two go have fun tonight. Kirsten and I will head down to the pool and see if we can get some swimming done before the place closes for the night.”

“I’m ready!” Eileen called, making her way downstairs in a ritzy red dress. She turned to Lydia. “Thank you so much for agreeing to watch Kirsten tonight. We haven’t had a date night in ages,” Eileen smiled, slinging her handbag over her shoulder. 

Lydia laughed, shooing the couple away. “You’d better get going then, you don’t want to be late for your reservation!”

Jasper and Eileen arrived at the bistro with five minutes to spare. The waiter sat them at their table and brought out a basket of breadsticks, followed by a bottle of nectar. The pair poured themselves some nectar and took a taste.

“This is incredible,” Eileen murmured, awestruck. “What kind of nectar is this?”

Jasper looked at the label on the bottle. “Life Fruit,” he turned the bottle around. “Doesn’t say how long it’s aged for, but it’s delicious, and that’s good enough for me,” he raised his glass and took another sip.

The two made short work of the breadstick basket. Fortunately for them, the waiter arrived with two steaming hot plates of spaghetti with veggie sauce. Eileen took another sip of her nectar and cleared her throat, prompting her husband to look up at her. Jasper immediately knew Eileen was struggling to contain her excitement. Before he could inquire what was on her mind, Eileen spoke up.

“As you may know, I got a raise last week,” Eileen began, gauging her husband’s reaction as she slowly broke out into a grin. “And earlier this week, my boss let me know she’s been eyeing me for a promotion.”

“You don’t say! Oh, that’s great news, Eileen!” Jasper beamed.

Eileen’s face fell. “But,” she began, steeling herself. “I’d like you to think about getting a real job,” she paused, surprised by Jasper’s lack of protest. “I know you love renovating the manor, but our money will only go so far. Maybe you could get a job at the science facility with your sister?”

Jasper remained silent, thinking over the options in his head. He could seek out work as a repair technician. In Riverview, repair technicians were in short supply. He could also take Eileen’s advice and go to work at the science facility. Lydia was a fertilizer analyst there, a job he absolutely wouldn’t take. However, if the facility had need of any lab techs, he could certainly apply there. Alternatively, he could go back to school and study to become a mechanic in the hangars of the military base.

“You’re right,” Jasper sighed, offering a weak smile to his wife. “As soon as I finish the last of the renovations in Lydia’s room and finish up the third floor, I’ll get out there and start looking for work.”

Eileen reached under the table and gave her husband’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Thank you, honey, I appreciate it.”

The Remingtons tucked into their meal. Just as Jasper was almost finished with his spaghetti, Eileen broke the comfortable silence.

“What were you planning on doing with the third floor?”

Jasper finished the bite of food he had just taken and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “My original plan was to turn it into a sort of art gallery, but I think a ballroom would be more functional,” he explained.

Eileen nodded thoughtfully. “I actually really like that idea. It could make hosting campaign fundraisers a lot easier for me.”

Jasper smiled, pleased that his wife approved of his plan. He poured himself and Eileen a bit more nectar and raised his glass. “To success.”

Eileen grinned widely. “To success,” she replied, gently clinking her glass with her husband’s and drinking the sweet nectar.

Jasper set his glass down and picked up his fork, twirling the last bit of spaghetti around it when he felt his cellphone buzzing in his pocket. He set his fork back on the plate, holding his phone up to show Eileen. “Back in a minute hon, I should probably take this.”

Jasper stepped out into the cool evening air and sat down on the bench outside the restaurant. For the first time, he looked at the caller ID. Petunia Clover, his sister’s close friend from the Riverview Gardening Society had apparently called him three times before he had noticed. Jasper answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Jasper! Oh, god, Jasper!” Her breathless voice came through the phone. It sounded like Petunia had been sobbing.

“Petunia, are you alright? Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“…Ly…dia…” Petunia choked out, gasping with every breath. In the background, Kirsten’s shrill, unmistakable weeping rang out through the area.

Jasper felt pure, unbridled terror surge through his body like an electric current. “Petunia, is Kirsten alright?”

“Sorry…I’m so sorry…”

Jasper listened, heart hammering in his chest, as Petunia gasped for breath.

“The pool…Lydia is gone…”

Jasper’s chest tightened. “Petunia, please stay there with Kirsten. Eileen and I are coming.”

Eileen took one look at her husband’s distraught expression as he came through the restaurant's doors and immediately knew something had gone terribly wrong. “Petunia just told me Lydia drowned at the pool. We need to leave now.”

“ _Drowned?_ ” Eileen practically shrieked, only managing to compose herself at the last minute.

“Let’s pay for the meal and go—”

“I’ll pay, the waiter probably won’t be back around here for a while,” Eileen offered, placing a gentle, comforting hand to Jasper’s cheek. “Go, honey. She’s your sister.”


	2. Calm waters

“Again, I’m so, so, so sorry, Hannah. Please don’t be afraid to call Jasper and I if you need anything, anything at all,” Jasper peered over the railing of the second floor to see his wife wrapping up a phone call with his niece, Hannah. Eileen went silent as Hannah replied to her over the phone. “Alright. Take care of yourself, sweetheart.”

Click!

Jasper cleared his throat, Eileen turning to look at him as he descended the staircase, eyebrows knitted together with worry. “How is she?” Jasper asked, though he already knew the answer.

Eileen gave a soft sigh and shook her head. “She’s a wreck, Jasper. She’s doing much better than she was a couple days ago, but even now I could tell she was struggling not to cry over the phone,” she reached out for her husband, who met her wholeheartedly in a comforting embrace.

“I assume she won’t be able to make it to the funeral?”

Eileen shook her head again. “She said the nor’easter hasn’t shown any signs of letting up, but she’s taken a couple weeks off work to come see us when she can travel. Aiden, too,” she murmured, stepping back from her husband and putting a hand to her temple.

“Eileen, you need to take some time for yourself. Your work is picking up, you’re arranging three different campaign fundraisers, and on top of all that, you agreed to arrange the funeral,” Jasper reached out, tenderly cupping his wife’s cheek in his hand. “Go take a bubble bath or a nap, or maybe head down to the day spa for a massage later. You can’t keep pushing yourself like this, hon.”

Eileen reached up to stroke the hand on her cheek. “I know, I know. But,” the redhead bit her lip, as if struggling with something. “There is something else that needs to be taken care of for me.”

“Anything, sweets.”

“Kirsten hasn’t gotten any better. She hasn’t left her room in three days except to stand on the second-floor porch. Cody’s been bringing her food, but he says she won’t even talk to him,” Eileen explained.

Jasper sighed, running a tense hand through his hair. “When Kirsten gets like this, she usually just needs a little bit of time, but I had no idea it had gotten this bad,” Jasper glanced upstairs at the door to Cody and Kirsten’s room before looking back at his wife with a sad smile. “Go relax. I’ll take care of this.”

Eileen mumbled a ‘thank you’ that was quickly eaten up by a soft kiss from her husband. As Jasper walked up the stairs, Eileen watched him with a sad yet anticipative glint in her eye, hopeful that her husband would be able to comfort their grief-stricken little girl.

Jasper gave a gentle knock on the door. He waited patiently for Kirsten to invite him in. All was quiet on the other side of the room. “I’m coming in,” Jasper called out, waiting a few seconds before turning the doorknob and opening the door to his children’s room.

Cody and Kirsten sat side by side on his bed, eyes sunken with dark circles beneath them. Kirsten’s hands were folded neatly on her lap, as she was wont to do in times of great emotional turmoil. Her favorite books lay untouched on the dresser, stacked in a precise pile as if she hadn’t read them in days.

Cody’s eyes met his father’s. Sensing the situation, he started to get off the bed to head towards the door. Jasper shook his head, forcing Cody to remain in place. “Stay. We need to talk.”

Jasper exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose. He had never imagined something like this would happen, and needed to steel himself to talk his kids through it.

“Kirsten, how are you feeling?”

Kirsten looked into her father’s eyes before looking back down at her feet dangling off the bed, wringing her hands. “I don’t feel good,” she mumbled, twisting her legs together.

Jasper remained silent. He looked to Cody, who almost immediately looked down at his own feet similar to his little sister. 

“I got grabbed,” Kirsten bit her lip, blinking rapidly to keep from crying. “Aunt Lydia had a cramp in her leg or foot or something and she panicked and grabbed me when she couldn’t float. I got away, but she didn’t. And it feels like it’s all because of me.”

“No, it’s my fault,” Cody spoke up for the first time, prompting his father and little sister to look at him. “I was the one who didn’t want to babysit Kirsten in the first place. I was the one who wanted to go to that stupid class, and Aunt Lydia was the one who ended up paying the price,” Cody’s voice shook as he spoke, his fists clenched and his knuckles turning white.

Jasper shook his head, readjusting his glasses. “No,” both his children met his eyes for the first time. “It was nobody’s fault.”

“It wasn’t?” Kirsten’s trembling, meek voice inquired. Jasper’s heart shattered. His daughter sounded so small and broken.

“It was nobody’s fault,” he repeated. “It was just an accident. An awful, horrible, terrible accident,” Jasper sat down on the bed across from his children.

The three sat in silence, save the nearby wall clock ticking. For minutes, or maybe even hours—Jasper couldn’t tell—the three let quiet envelop the room.

Cody was the first to break the silence. “I’ve never had someone close to me die before,” Cody began, crossing his arms. “Except grams and gramps, but I was too little to remember.”

Jasper nodded. “It was hard for Aunt Lydia and I. When grams and gramps died, we felt like orphans.”

“But aren’t orphans little kids?” Kirsten asked.

Jasper chuckled softly. “Usually, yes they are. Aunt Lydia and I felt like little kids when we lost grams and gramps. We were both very sad and very scared.”

“But you’re a grown-up,” Kirsten noted, head tilted curiously.

“That’s right, peanut,” Jasper replied. “Grown-ups get sad. And grown-ups definitely get scared.”

“But I feel angry,” Cody added. “It’s not fair that Aunt Lydia had to die. I feel sad, yeah, but I’m also really freakin’ mad,” Cody clenched his fists even tighter, frustrated tears coming to the surface and spilling out onto his reddening cheeks.

“No worries, pal. It _wasn’t_ fair,” Jasper reassured his teenage son, giving him a firm squeeze on the shoulder. “And it’s okay to feel sad, but it’s also okay to feel angry. When we lose someone we love, we can feel all kinds of crazy stuff.”

Kirsten sniffled, finally unable to hold back her tears as they dribbled down her cheeks. “It feels like I’ll never smile again, dad.”

“Come here, you two,” Jasper opened his arms wide. Cody and Kirsten didn’t hesitate to accept their father’s hug, softly crying on his shoulders. “We’re all going to be very sad for a very long time. We can’t just bounce back from something like this right away. But I promise you both, things will eventually start to feel normal again.”

“I miss her so much, dad,” Kirsten whispered, holding her father tighter.

“I miss her too, peanut. I miss her so much,” Jasper kissed Kirsten’s hair. “We’re always going to miss Aunt Lydia, but she loved us all very, very much, and I have no doubt she’d want us to keep being happy, living our lives, and having lots of fun.”

Cody and Kirsten kept hugging their father, the three letting silence take over the room once again, until Kirsten gently pulled away. “I think I want to go to bed early tonight.”

Jasper and Cody left the room so Kirsten could go to sleep. “You staying up for a while, bud?” Jasper asked his son.

“Yeah, I’m going to step out of the house for a bit. Maybe sit on the bench by the garden for a hot minute.”

“Alright. I love you, Cody,” Jasper kissed his son’s forehead.

Cody gave a hint of a smile. “Love you too, dad.”


End file.
